Line of type universal surfacing machine



Jan. 16, .1945. R. c. cAsHoN 2,357,198 LINE OF TYPE UNIVERSAL SURFACINGMACHINE Filed April 15, 1941 r 2 Sheets-Sheet -l 1 7 INVENTOR.

' ffir/M/m 6. (ZS/mm Patented Jan. 16, 1945 to PATENT, O'FFlC-E IVERSALSURFACI-NG MAGHINE Raymond C. Oa shon, Indianapolis, Ind.

Applicationa April '..15

6 Claims.

This. invention relates" to -apparatus for surfacing type usually castin agline or the like.

Thechief'object of this invention istoprovide ---a'machine for:surfacing the 'printingface of type "castin line'formso'thattheprinting face of the type with respecttof the base' may have any"predetermined height andwill on its printing face "provide a-sharpnessof printing impression, in "other-' Words,= a='fine, sharp outline, aswell-as a "mirror-finish'so'that such type, usually of line "form and ofany desi redlength -can be finished so that it-is-of-any desired'heightand can print "satisfactorilyon any 'hig-hlyismooth paper, such as ahighly *calend'ered "paper-With the same facility-and clarity ofimpression as is obtained on "rougher'papers.

Another object of the invention is to "provide 'a machine for finishing"type ofthe aforesaid character so that recastingof the type is not"necessary. f-Furthermoreytype so-finished avoids a considerable portionof the make-ready operations.

The chief feature of the present-invention isto provide a' machine which1 can accommodate any reasonable length of line of type-and cut the same7 to any desired height within the range "of the machine capacity andwhich line of type may be .of. any desired width and which,.'inoperation, "will sharpen the outline of the printing face of the typeandprovidea mirror finishon .su'ch printing. portions of said face;"'Theproper finish is obtained bypropercorrelation-v between the speedof travel of .a:- carriage mounting the .line -of typeand .thespeedofrotation .of a rotatable cutterfacing that ,type. i The deviceillustratedherein is capable. of handling type produced-bythe-.following;machines, all of which :in general; :mayabemlassified as.line casting machines and all of which pasta; differ- 1 out linerslug.s.These-: :machines-1.areFcommQmy .called the -"Linotyrm, theIIntertype, B the Y. Ludlow lTypograph and: the Linograph. The'len'gth'of the' lines of these *:machines "varies 1' :The

"- smaillest lineis from -l ems up. *The'longest'is- '7 I inches,or-42-ems. The height oftypethat is usually utilized is somewhere" about".918 "but it imay" vary from.915 to2922. Thepresent machine "hasaheight capacity Qfadjustment' from '.915to ".925. Itwillbe obvious, ofcourse, thatthis range can-be..-.increase'd. l'lhe widthvofwthelineoftype, as.-.stated, may vary fromiaa-very. small width up -.to.2" :inwidth and theypresent machine. is. capvable of accommodating various"widths, various 1941.8erialNo. 388,653

(emu-16) v lengths, and cutting,to various.heightswithinthe range :ofadjustments.

.Other objects and features of-the invention will he set forth morefully hereinafter.

ilhe full nature ofth e invention will :be undervstood from-theaccompanying drawings, .the following description and claims: Fig. 1: isatop plan :view of the invention, the carriage being shown thereon andto the left .10 thereof.

iFig. 2,.is a vertical sectional -view takenon line ..2--. 2-of;Fig. 1and in the direction of the arrows. Fig.: 3 is-a top plan view taken. online;3.3 of Fig. 7 2 :and inthe direction of .the arrows and isillustrative of the -power portions :of the ma chine, :the carriage,cutter, type clamp and bed "portions of the machine I being omitted.

.Fig. :4 is an enlarged vertical sectional View through the cuttinghead,- the carriage,, the clamp and the bed of-- the machine.

- "Fig. 5 is-anenlarged side elevationalview of the selective controlforcarriage drive,-etc. :;In;the.-drawings Ill indicates one side portionof the bed of the machine, I ltheopposite one and s2 .these twosideportions maybe-suitably connected shown more clearly in Fig. '3andindicated by the numeral -l-2. This suitablyiand detachablysup-"ports an-electric;motor 1,.3. This-motor is sup- 3 ,plied bycurrentjfrom line; Hhcontrolled-by switch l5- mounted-in the side Hofthebed of the ma- -chine.

The two vangle ;members l9 rand 32,0 and their vgrooved portionsconfront each-other. This forms :achannel that extends from one. end ofthe; ma-

chine to the other. The top portion- -of the bed I8 is. provided withan;elongated apertureil through which-depends a portion of the carriage:structure and adjacent which is 'rnountedthe 1 feed .screw. [The feedscrew, see, -1iig.; i is indicated by the numeral 22. A nut 23;. issecured as at;24- to \thehase of the carriage structure 25 having theoppositely directed wings Z6 seatable in the grooves l9a and 20a of theconfronting ,trackway arrangements.

;t0gether-near:their bottoms bythe; cross member The ends. I 0. and: Hareconnected by: the front The nut structure 23 is apertured as at 21and slides upon a rod 28 that extends parallel to the feed screw 22.

The machine may, if desired, be provided with rubber feet or the like,as indicated at 29.

The motor [3 includes the shaft 3| upon which.

is secured the gear 32 meshing with the pinion 33 carried by a verticalshaft 34, the latter being rotatably supported in the bracket 35 carriedby the bed of the machine, said shaft 34 extending upwardly through anaperture I36 in the top l8 of the machine bed and through a similar aperture 31 registering therewith and in the track member l9, see Fig. 4.

A transverse shaft 38 mounted in bearings 31a and 31b in the front l6.and back ll of the bed has suitably secured to it a gear 38, as at 39.Stop collars 49 properly position said shaft. The gear 38 meshes withthe pinion 4| carried by the motor shaft 3|. Thus the shaft 36 isrotated at a materially less speed than shaft 3|.

The shaft 36 has secured to it a beveled pinion 42 meshing with a bevelgear 43 carried by a shaft 44 mounted in bearing 45 spaced from the sidewall II. The shaft 44 extends toward said wall and is rotatablysupported therein by a bearing indicated by the numeral 46.

Rigid with said shaft 44 is a gear 41. Rotatably supported by said shaft44 is a feed change lever arrangement, see Fig. 5, indicated by thenumeral 48. This lever is pivoted on said shaft 44 and extends outwardlythrough an elongated slot defined by a boss 49 on the front 16 of themachine and mounts on its exposed end a knob 50 or the like for manualengagement. The other end of said lever 48 provides spaced bearings and52, mounting shafts 53 and 54 respectively carrying meshing idler gears55 and 56 respectively, each being adapted for selective engagement totransmit .power from gear 41 to gear" 51, the former being on the powershaft 44 that always rotates in one direction and the other beingmounted on the feed screw shaft portion 22a as shown in Fig. 1.

When the manual lever 48 is depressed in its slot to its lowermostposition, the gear 55 is elevated and operatively connects gears 41 and51 so that while shaft 44 rotates counter-clockwise gear 55 will rotateclockwise and gear 51 will rotate counter-clockwise. However, when theparts are shown in Fig. 5, neither gear 55 nor 56 is in mesh with thegear 51 and, consequently, the back gear arrangement and feed screw 22will not be rotated even though the motor then be turning shaft 44.When, however, the lever 48 is elevated to its highest point in theslot, the gear 4'! drives the gear 55 in turn driving the gear 56, inthe counter-clockwise direction, so that when gear 56 is in mesh withthe gear 51, the gear 5! is rotated in a clockwise direction.

- Thus the rotation of the gear 51, when so connected to the gear 41. isin the same direction as gear 41. With this construction the said screwcan be reversely rotated. Consequently, since this feed screw isoperatively associated with the nut 23 carried by the carriage 25, thecarriage 25 will be moved either to the right or to theleft or willremain stationary, depending upon the selective positioning of the partsshown more particularly in Fig. 5.

Reference will now be had to the automatic stopping device and themanual stopping device. As shown clearly in Figs. 1 to 4, rod 28 extendsparallel to the feed screw 22. It m unts a collar 60, see Figs. 2 and 3,adjacent the end [0 of the bed. The rod is slidably supported in the endH] as indicated at 6| and projects beyond the same as indicated at 52,terminating in a head .portion 63. A spring 64 is concentric with therod and bears at one end on the bearing 5| and on the opposite end onvhead 53 and normally constrains rod 28 to the left.

Interposed between the end l0 and the collar 60 is the bifurcatedportion 65 of a lever 66 piv oted at 61 and having the tail portion 58.The portion 23a of the nut 23 is extended so that in the movement of thecarriage to the left, see Figs. 2 and 3, this portion 23a engages thefree end. of the tail portion 68 of the bifurcated lever 65 to tilt thelever and cause the rod 28 to move to the right. This occurs before thenut attains the position where the body portion of the nut would engagestop collar fill.

When it is desired to stop the machine manually, all that is required issufiicientpressure upon the knob 53 in opposition to the spring 54. Therod 28 then will be moved to the right and no movement of the bifurcatedlever 66 occurs.

Movement of the rod 28 by reason of the projection 23a and tilting thebifurcated lever 65 is in opposition to spring 64. Extending parallel tothe rod 28 and carried by the nut 23 is an extension 69, see Fig. 2.When the carriage is at or near the extreme right-hand end of itstravel, this particular. portion is effective for securing cessation ofcarriage movement.

As shown clearly in Figs. 1 to 3 and Fig. 5,, each of the gears 55 and55 is slidably supported on its stu-b shaft and is normally constrainedtoward face contact with the supporting end of the lever 48 by mean of aspring.

Herein, spring in normally constrains gear 55 to the left in Fig. 3 andspring H normally constrains gear 58 to the left in Fig. 1. It will beobserved, see Fig. 2, that gears 57 and 4'! are in coplanar alignmentand the gears 55 and 56 have similar alignment when released to theconstraint of these springs. 28 or the projection 59 engages the gear inquestion of the intermediate gears 55 and 55, these are projected to theright and consequently power is not supplied by gear 4! to gear 5'1.Hence, carriage travel ceases. Thus, carriage movement, in eitherextreme direction near the end of that direction automatically causescessation of further carriage movement in that direction. This in effectis a combination clutch and reversing drive arrangement.

Furthermore, since rod 28 is the one that is associated with gear 55, itis quite apparent that, even though gear 56 be the gear then inoperative engagement with the gear 51, axial move ment of gear 55 willbreak the chain of power gear transmission. Thus, travel of the carriageto theright can be stopped at will through pressure applied to the head53. Normally, rod 28 is operatively associated with gear 55 for causingcessation automatically of carriage movement toward the left. Projection69 is associated with gear 55 for causing cessation of movement of thecarriage to the right.

The carriage 25 includes an upwardly directed flange portion '32. Thisflange is coextensive with the base portion 25. Adjacent thereto andspaced therefrom is the flange 13'. The face 12a of flange 12 isperpendicular to the face 25a of the carriage base 25 which is parallelto the machined face of the top l8 to which the tracks [9 and 25 aresecured. The parallel faces of the grooves When, however, the rod setscrew to be loosened and tightened without removing the guard.

After the parts have been suitably adjusted, it wilibe quite apparentthat the indicator 1 It! will indicate the: exact height of the typethat the teeth I23 will cut and finish. With the carriage positioned tothe left as shown in Fig. 1 the clamp lever 80 is operated to open theclamp structure and the previously cast type is properly affixedthereto. locked to rigidly hold the type in theclamp on the carriage.Handle 58 is dropped and gear 55 engages gear 41 to rotate itcounter-clockwise. The switch I5 is then closed. The carriage moves tothe right because screw 22 is a right-hand thread screw and the nut 23moves to the right. see Figs. 1 and 2. Previously, through the indexingarrangement, the height of the cutter construction has been adjusted forthe proper height of type. When the carriage passes beneath this cuttinghead sructure, the teeth I23 finish the face of the printing impression,provide a sharp outline on those formations and insure that the coplanarface of such impressions is parallel to the base of the type slug and atthe proper distance from said base so that make-ready operations arematerially reduced when the finished Slug is later applied to the form.

If one cutting operation is sufficient, when the carriage has moved tothe right a sufficient amount the slug may be released. This operationoccurs, of course, after carriage movement has ceased. Carriage movementwill automatically cease when the carriage has travelled to the extremeright. If the type has not been properly finished, for example, itrequires a plurality of cuts to reduce the type heightto the properheight at the end of the'travel of the carriage to the right, thecontrol BI] is actuated to reverse the carriage travel and cutting isresumed in the reverse direction, it being understood that between thesetwo directions of carriage travel the cutting teeth have been properlyadjusted.

It is to be understood that not too much material can be handled at eachcutting operation so I that care must be exerted not to crowd the toforehave required extreme care in the production of type and considerablemake-ready operation. This machine, therefore, eliminates therequirement that several slugs of the same type be successively cast inorde'r to obtain a perfect" one.

This machine also has the advantage that it can accommodate any lengthof line of type up to and including 7 long, this being slightly largerthan the largest line now being utilized. It can also accommodate typefrom .915 to .925 in height. It also can accommodate any width of typeup to and including 2". With this invention, type casting with any ofthe type casting machines initially mentioned can be finished and suchfinish is of mirror-like quality, aswell The clamp is then released andas to face and height providing proper adjustment is observed.

It will also be readily apparent that the cutting head is notnecessarily restricted to the utilization of 8 cutting teeth. When alesser number of teeth are to be employed intermediate teeth may beremoved. Certain types of work require a larger number of teeth thanothers. This is to insure that the amount of metal removed automaticallyclears itself, that is, does not accumulate and crowd the work so as tointerfere with subsequent tooth cutting. The carriage is equipped withextensible guards, as shown in the Figure 2, so that as the carriagemoves from right to left, the chips from the cutting operation do notfall through the opening 2| and fall upon or clog the mechanism withinthe bed structure.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in great detailin the foregoing description, the same is to be considered asillustrative and not restrictive in character.

The several modifications described herein, as well as others which willreadily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art, are allconsidered to be within the broad scope of the invention, referencebeing had to the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a machine of the character described the combination of twoparallel shafts, a gear on each shaft, said gears having coplanaralignment, a support tiltable upon the axis of one of the shafts, a pairof meshing gears rotatably supported by said support on axes parallel tothe support supporting shaft and slidable longitudinally of the axes andnormally constrained to coplanar alignment with the other gears, one ofthe pair of meshing gears, when so constrained meshing with one of thefirst mentioned gears, said one of the pair of gears and the other ofsaid pair of meshing gears when so constrained having selectiveengagement with the other of said first mentioned gears or no engagementtherewith depending upon the position of the tiltable support.

2. Ina machine of the character described, the combination of twoparallel shafts, a gear on each shaft, said gears having coplanaralignment, a support tiltable upon the axis of one of the shafts, a pairof meshing gears rotatably supported by said support on axes parallel tothe shaft and normally constrained to coplanar alignment with the othergears, one of the pair of meshing gears, when so constrained meshingwith one of the first mentioned gears, said one of the pair of meshinggears and the other of said pair of meshing gears when so constrainedhaving selective engagement with the other of said first mentioned gearsor no engagement therewith, depending upon the position of the tiltablesupport, and means for shifting one of the constrained gears, inopposition to the constraint, from the coplanar alignment for thepurpose described.

3. In a cast type surfacing machine having a bed with a way formationthereon, and a carriage movable thereon, the combination of a typeclamping structure carried by'the carriage and movable therewith, saidstructure including an elongated abutment on the'carriage having a faceparallel to the direction of carriage movement, a'clamping head having asimilar directed confronting face, yielding means interposed be tweenthe head and carriage normally constraining the head toward faceengagement, guide means interposed between the head and carriageinsuring movement of the head transverse to its face, and manuallyoperable means movstraining means and gravity constrained for holdingthe clamping head in type locking position.

4. In a cast type surfacing machine, a bed having a way formation, acarriage movable thereon, cutting means thereabove, and flexible chipguard means connected at opposite ends to opposite ends of the carriagefor covering all carriage exposed portions of the way formation, theguard means passing across the machine beneath the way formationthereof.

5. In a machine for surfacing a line of cast type having a supportingbed and a work supporting structure supported thereby, the combinationof a head structure supported by the bed, one of said structures beingmovable on the bed relative to the other structure, said head structureincluding a shaft directed toward the work structure, a cuttingarrangement on the shaft end nearest the work structure, an arm on thehead structure supporting the shaft intermediate its ends, meansengaging the opposite end of the shaft for shaft rotation, meansinterposed between the shaft and arm for adjusting the cuttingarrangementtoward and away from the work structure, guard meanssubstantially surrounding the cutting arrangement, said guard meansincluding an access portion therein, the cutting arrangement including asupporting member, and a plurality of cutting teeth detachably securedthereto, the guard means access portion being arranged to expose thedetachable connection between a tooth and the tooth supporting member.

6. In a machine for surfacing a line of cast 1 type having a supportingbed and a work supporting structure supported thereby, the combinationof a-head structure supported by the bed, one of said structures beingmovable on the bed relative to the otherstructure, said head structureincluding a shaft directed toward the work structure, a cuttingarrangement on the shaft end nearest the work structure, an arm on thehead structure supporting the shaft intermediate its ends, meansengaging the opposite end of the shaft for shaft rotation, meansinterposed between the shaft and arm for adjusting the cuttingarrangement toward and away from the work structure, guard meanssubstantially surrounding the cutting arrangement, said guard meansincluding an access portion therein, the cutting arrangement including asupporting member, a plurality of cutting teeth detachably securedthereto, the guard means access portion being arranged to expose thedetachable connection between a tooth and the tooth supporting member,means for locking the arm and shaft interposed means in adjustedposition, and a scale and indicator arrangement for visual indication ofthe adjusted position of the cutting arrangement.

RAYMOND C. CASI-ION.

